In this article the author intend to use an epistemological concept and its categories of description to analyse two specially chosen biographies reflecting diverse postmodern life patterns. Postmodernity, or in fact the postmodern order, refers to the concept of order-making dimensions discussed in the previous article concerning hypermodernity. It is treated there as casual and variable with regard to the category of relations and work, and the only certainty for the individual, in regard to future possibilities or necessities, is the individual’s own identity. This article adds the category of resonance to the characteristics of postmodernity, as a synonym for a person’s primary entanglement in the world. It is a category of which individuals are increasingly aware, on which they reflect, and which they make an object of their experience.
The field of research of this paper combines Human Computer Interface, gesture recognition and fingertips tracking. Most gesture recognition algorithms processing color images are unable to locate folded fingers hidden inside hand contour. With use of hand landmarks detection and localization algorithm, processing directional images, the fingertips are tracked whether they are risen or folded inside the hand contour. The capabilities of the method, repeatibility and accuracy, are tested with use of 3 gestures that are recorded on the USB camera. Fingertips are tracked in gestures presenting a linear movement of an open hand, finger folding into fist and clenched fist movement. In conclusion, a discussion of accuracy in application to HCI is presented.
The longwall mining system with fall of the roof is still the most common hard coal extraction system in Polish mining. Its utilization for selective coal seams’ mining results in the development of post-extraction gobs at different depths. Methane desorption phenomena from the coal seams in the stress release zones and migration of gas towards the area of operations, result in methane accumulating also after completion of coal exploitation. Methane which is not exploited from the gobs can migrate directly to the atmosphere e.g. through overlying layers, faults, workings or directly via an operated ventilation grid of an adjacent coal mine – contributing to the Greenhouse Gas effect. One of the methods to capture methane (Abandoned Maine Methane) from abandoned coal mines is to drill vertical wells through several post-extraction gobs from the surface.
This paper presents the results of drilling operations at the AGH-Wieczorek-1 well, where first time in Poland, down-the-hole-hammer (DTH) with casing-while-drilling (CwD) technology were used to drill through several post-extraction gobs. The AGH-Wieczorek-1 well with 440.0 m MD was successfully drilled without any complications. Finally, three post-extraction gobs and two coal seams were drilled. Additionally, results from drillability tests, which were performed during drilling operations, are presented.
The paper concerns the accuracy of determining particle size distributions of the fine-grained materials by means of laser diffraction method. Selection of measuring method for determination of materials granulation depends on various properties of the sample, but mainly on the range of particle size in the sample. It must be taken into consideration that each of the measurement methods inherently generate different information about particle size distribution. The applied measurement method generates the main impact on the results of research because it uses various material properties, like: geometric properties, density or type of the surface (porosity).
Influence of density and particle shape on the results of measurements by laser diffraction was studied in the paper. This method becomes a standard for measuring particle size of mineral powders. Analysis of raw materials particle size distribution was performed using a laser particle-meter Analysette 22. Investigations included measurements of particle size of raw materials characterized by various densities (coal, porphyry, barite) and the shape of the particles (copper shale ore, fly ash from coal combustion). The density of raw materials was determined by helium pycnometer, while the particle shape was expressed by coefficient which was calculated on the basis of particles geometric parameters. Geometry of the grains was measured using an optical microscope with a digital record of images by means of image analysis method. The accuracy of laser granulometric analyzes was expressed by variation coefficient of narrow particle fractions contents. Results of analyzes confirmed that the laser granulometric analysis provides accurate information about the finestparticle size distribution. No significant effect of the material density on the accuracy of granulometric analysis was observed. Effect of particle shape of the tested materials caused more stable values of the variation coefficient for particles of more spherical shape what is related to the applied method of laser measurement. The accuracy of laser granulometric analyzes varies dependably on the measured particle size range of particles. The most accurate analyzed materials are these ones being the part of narrow particle fractions.
On one hand, the development of medicine allows to prolong the life of patients who previously had no chance for survive, on the other hand, though, it condemns some of them and their loved ones to extreme suffering. Fear of suffering is the main reason for a possible wish for euthanasia. The research aimed at measuring the attitude towards euthanasia among doctors and nurses who come in professional contact with terminally ill patients or patients versus the medical personnel who do not come in such contact. The research included: age, profession and workplace as well as personal experience in providing care to the seriously ill. The Attitudes Towards Euthanasia Questionnaire by Głębocka and Gawor was used during the research. The method consists of three scales: Informational Support, Liberal Approach and Conservative Approach. Medical stuff taking care of terminally ill patients were less conservative in their opinions than the participants from the comparative group. The intergroup differences in terms of Liberal Approach towards Euthanasia Scale were not obtained. It turned out that the age fostered the conservative approach, and working at the intensive care units or taking care of an ill relative fostered the reduction of such approach. All the respondents approve the idea of providing the patients and their families with informational support. Working in intensive care units or taking care of terminally ill relatives seems to reduce conservative attitudes towards euthanasia because persons with such experience have personally faced the multifaceted emotional and physical costs of suffering.
The paper focuses on the semantic analysis of lexical borrowings of English origin used in informal spoken Polish. The study is based on the corpus, collected and analyzed by the present author. First, general information is given about the corpus, followed by the description of the methodological problems associated with studying lexical loans in spoken language. The main part of the paper focuses on the description of the loans found in the corpus. Special attention is paid to the newest borrowings, not noted in the dictionaries of Polish and/or dictionaries of foreign terms.
The paper challenges the analysis of proverbs as particular cases of Genericis Specific metaphor suggested by Lakof and Turner (1989). I argue that their metaphoric account of proverbs should be considerably revised and extended. Proverbs are usually not used in order to make “generic statements”, but, rather, in order to comment on specific construals of current situations. Therefore, I suggest that proverbs should be analyzed in terms of the theory of conceptual integration networks (Turner & Fauconnier 1995). Accordingly, the specific content of the proverbs and the construal of the current “target” situation should be considered as input spaces, the generic level schema as the generic space and the particular emergent meaning of the proverb in the current situation as the blend. Whether the mapping between the two spaces is more metonymic or metaphoric depends on the relation between the two input spaces.
The use of welfare support by EU migrants has dominated media coverage and political debates about EU migration in the UK for several years, regularly featuring claims about the negative effects of the presence of EU migrants on the UK social security system. Such claims became particularly prominent in 2013–2015, during the UK government’s campaign to limit EU migrants’ access to UK welfare benefits and in debates prior to the Brexit referendum. This article sheds light on how Polish migrants position themselves concern-ing the claiming of welfare benefits in the UK and how this affects their welfare strategies. The article is based on 14 qualitative interviews conducted in Liverpool 18 months after the Brexit referendum. Using stigma and benefits stigma as an overall theoretical framework, we find that the informants, in their posi-tioning narratives, 1) put forward similar stigmatising expressions and stereotypes regarding the use of wel-fare as those featured by politicians and the media, which points to perceived abuse; 2) make a distinction between in-work and out-of-work benefits, the first being more acceptable than the second; 3) prefer living on savings or accepting ‘any job’ over making use of out-of-work benefits, which points to an underuse and/or to possible processes of marginalisation; and 4), a tendency among those who have experience with claiming out-of-work benefits to question the discourses of welfare abuse. Finally, ‘working’ and ‘contrib-uting’ to the system as opposed to relying on welfare support is perceived as a precondition to staying in the UK after Brexit – welfare and work are seen to signal very high stakes indeed.
The fate of European citizens living in the United Kingdom was a key issue linked with Britain’s departure from the European Union. Official statistics show that some outflow has taken place, but it was no Brexodus. This article investigates Brexit’s impact within a theoretical (push–pull) framework using a survey of long-term Polish migrants in the UK (CAPI, N = 472, conducted in 2018). Our results show that the perception of Brexit as a factor discouraging migrants from staying in the UK was limited. Still, those with experience of living in other countries, those remitting to Poland, and those on welfare benefits, were more likely to find Brexit discouraging. However, many claimed that the referendum nudged them towards extending their stay instead of shortening it. In general, when asked about what encourages/discourages them from staying in the UK, the respondents mainly chose factors related to the job market. Therefore, we argue, in line with Kilkey and Ryan (2020), that the referendum was an unsettling event – but, considering the strong economic incentives for Polish migrants to stay in the UK, we can expect Brexit to have a limited influence on any further outflows of migrants, as long as Britain’s economic situation does not deteriorate.
In this paper, the two-temperature thermoelasticity model is proposed to a specific problem of a thermoelastic semi-infinite solid. The bounding plane surface of the semi-infinite solid is considered to be under a non-Gaussian laser pulse. Generalized thermoelasticity analysis with dual-phase-lags is taken into account to solve the present problem. Laplace transform and its inversion techniques are applied and an analytical solution as well as its numerical outputs of the field variables are obtained. The coupled theory and other generalized theory with one relaxation time may be derived as special cases. Comparison examples have been made to show the effect of dual-phase-lags, temperature discrepancy, laser-pulse and laser intensity parameters on all felids. An additional comparison is also made with the theory of thermoelasticity at a single temperature.
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